Recent studies have shown that lead generation is the biggest obstacle for many companies with an online presence. According to a report by 360 Leads, of the over 78 percent of businesses that executed online lead generation campaigns in the last year, only 17% met their targets, the study was conducted by sampling marketing executives from six continents. Many marketers identify with these statistics, given that they too know how much of their efforts end up unfruitful, shunned by a huge chunk of their target audiences.

1. Lack of patience and proper nurturing programs

One of the most cited reasons for this failure is an inability by the marketer to effectively nurture their prospects and guide them further along the sales cycle. All too often, marketers lure prospective clients into opting for emails or giving their contact information too soon. This becomes ineffective because the average consumer today is rather wary.

During the process of generating leads, it’s important to remember that while a consumer may be interested in whatever information you have to offer, they may not be ready to commit to long-term engagements, which is what email opt-in are in essence.

Lead generation has many advantages, not the least of which is building a large contact list for the business. However, you need to patiently nurture each relationship, instead of jumping in to sell something to them. Today’s consumers can spot a sales pitch from afar owing to the number of sales messages they’ve been exposed to, willingly and otherwise.

As such, the average prospect will always weigh the value of the content you’re promising against the risk of having to engage with a sales rep in future.

2. Too many offers

The truth is that many consumers shy away from responding to email marketing campaigns, simply because they are overwhelmed with the number of offers. Consumers are now exposed to an overload of marketing information, available everywhere they turn. This also means that the consumer doesn’t have enough time to process all of them.

As a marketer, you must find a way to engage with your audience without scaring them off, and yet stand out from your competitors. this is challenging, but there ways to improve the efficiency of your internet marketing efforts in lead generation in particular:

Build credibility – don’t be shy about any awards, which make you seem more authentic and trustworthy to consumers

Communicate properly – depending on the stage of each prospect, carefully nurture each lead by providing value for them according to how far they have advanced down the sales cycle. Use your email and social media marketing strategies to prove your worth to prospective clients

Be rounded – there are too many companies and businesses fighting to reach a limited target audience. You can stand out from the crowd by being well rounded. Don’t be afraid to humanize your business by sharing information about events as well as your team’s and your own hobbies, passions, interests and/or social commitments.

Conclusion

With all businesses competing on a global scale, online lead generation is certainly difficult. However, with careful planning and strategy execution, you can demonstrate your uniqueness to consumers and therefore, get a stronger grip of your audience.

Building a profitable business heavily relies on your ability to generate a consistent supply of fresh leads. However, this process is more complex than it sounds, from resource intensive strategies and thousands of splits tests to content creation and amplification, only to end up with a marginal improvement in conversions for all the effort.

If you have tried or are trying to improve your lead generation strategy with little success, here are some ideas you can effect immediately:

1. Social media

Unless you want to use it for advertising, a social media marketing campaign costs next to nothing, and you can do it yourself. Focus especially in visual marketing: use images and videos on Pinterest and Instagram in addition to Twitter and Facebook to catch consumer attention. Share attractive images of products, services, team members, sponsored events and any other interesting aspects of your business. The key is to add a human element to your connection with the audience: don’t be content to be another faceless business on the web.

2. Opt-in offers

You probably have an email opt-in box somewhere on your site. Getting more opt-in boxes, however may just increase the number of email subscribers you clinch. Don’t just be content with having one box on the sidebar. Turn all content pieces into email marketing opportunities. The idea is to make the perceived value of the offer too good to turn down – make it in such a way that consumers feel they have no choice but to download that whitepaper or e-book. You can also use pop-up tools to ensure opt-in messages are seen by all visitors.

3. Sign up forms

Even the most willing lead will abandon sign up if your forms are not easy to fill. Make your form so easy to fill that nobody directed to your landing pages will have to go back and correct some error once they submit the form. If you have specific requirements about formats, ensure they are clearly explained. In addition, have a real-time validation mechanism which highlights errors prior to form submission, so that these can be corrected without going back and forth. Remove any fields that aren’t absolutely necessary: more fields create more opportunities for friction.

4. Quora

In addition to on-site optimization, off-site promotion is crucial for online lead generation as well as brand awareness creation. In addition to guest posting on high authority directories, you can also leverage Quora by providing useful answers to questions related to your niche, allowing you to build thought leadership around your business and brand. Simply enter your target keywords to find relevant discussions you can add your voice to, but only in a way it makes sense and adds value to the discussion. You may also provide links to your social profiles as well as website.

5. 404 Pages

A significant chunk of your visitors may land on 404 pages as the site grows, possibly after following outdated links or missing pages. Turn this into a lead generation opportunity by offering an opt-in box for one of your resources, informing the visitor about a new product of service of redirecting them back to your homepage. Convert potentially peeving incidents into meaningful ones using custom messages that will improve your business goal achievement.